here," observes Stang, who has recently been
doing prepurchase research on 35-foot cruisers
at Malibu Marine Kelowna Ltd. "It's almost a sin
to have a lake like this and not utilize it."
At Malibu Marine, owner Ron Pfob says
he believes the attraction to boats is part of
an image people have of how they should be
living: "It's a lifestyle thing."
Spending on luxuries like boats raises the
question of debt, something that news stories
constantly warn Canadians are awash in. This
March, Statistics Canada pegged average credit-
market debt at $167 for every $100 of disposable
household income, adjusted for social transfers.
But Environics Analytics' Miron, whose com-
pany's analysis also looks at household liabili-
ties, says those numbers can be misleading. He
emphasizes that 80 cents of every dollar owed
in the country is for mortgages, 15 cents is for
secured lines of credit, and only "ve cents is due
to consumer spending on credit cards. "Funda-
mentally, all the debt is pinned back up against
real estate," Miron says. "That's good debt. One
day, hopefully, they'll be able to cash out." (Sure,
as long as Canada doesn't experience a giant pop
in its bubbly housing market.)
Of course, that's only true for those who can get
into the real estate market, which doesn't include
the many frustrated millennials in the Lower Main-
land. For them, there's the cold comfort of not hav-
ing to pay $15,000 for roof repairs or $20,000 for
drain-tile jobs. And the fact that their investments
are earning steady returns year after year.
But it's still tough for them to adjust.
Graham Bodel says he has to remind people
to look closely at their "nancial picture before
jumping into irrational decisions about buying
real estate. "If you're going to tie your happiness
to something that is completely impossible, it's
time to step back," he cautions.
Justin Jacobsen is resigned to eventually pull-
ing his money out of his investments and sinking
it into a single-family house or townhouse, even
though the returns will be less. "It would be a
very aggressive risk," the investment analyst says.
"I'd really have to liquidate a huge amount of my
"nancial holdings." But even Jacobsen admits
that some choices are not just about money: "It's
a huge emotional decision."
■
JUNE 2017 BCBUSINESS 37
"I have seen peo-
ple recently, not
in a big way, but
some come close
to paying off their
mortgage, and
then they've used
their home-equity
line of credit to
buy a cottage. It is
a danger point"
++
G R A H A M
B O D E L ,
C H A LTO N
FE E - O N LY
A DV I S O R S
SOURCE: ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS, WEALTHSCAPES 2016
BY AVERAGE VALUE OF EMPLOYER-
BASED PENSION PL AN, 2015
BY AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD
INCOME, 2016
BY AVERAGE TOTAL HOUSEHOLD
ASSE TS, 2015
BY AVERAGE RECRE ATIONAL
SPENDING, 2016
P E R S O N A L
F I N A N C E
$ 4, 65 5 , 898
$ 24 5 ,16 4 Oak Bay
$ 2 , 331, 9 21
